New Bills To Change Rules On Alcohol That Some Consider Archaic

Two Ohio lawmakers want to loosen state restrictions on alcohol. The bipartisan legislation they are proposing would make it easier for churches and non-profits to gift alcohol as part of fundraising events without having to obtain permits.

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Rep. John Becker (R –Cincinnati) says Ohio has some archaic, confusing and overly burdensome alcohol laws, and he wants to revisit them.

“They are so convoluted and out of date. And anything we can do to reduce these regulations but still allow voter input, and both of these bills do that, is an improvement.”

Becker says the issue came to light months ago when a non-profit he supports raffled off a basket of alcohol. He says most people believe it’s legal to do that and he adds it should be. So, he and Democrat John Rogers (D- Mentor-on-the-Lake) are sponsoring a bill that would make it so. Their other bill would allow bars, restaurants and liquor stores to treat Sunday as any other day of the week when it comes to alcohol sales.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement and hopefully these bills will generate some ideas and amendments on other issues to alleviate these problems,” Becker says.